In this system, all of the lines from the batten are wrapped around a drum. This drum is driven by the motor, but can only turn in one direction. In order to bring the batten back the the floor, there was a braking/clutching system which controlled descent.

The electric batten never proved a popular replacement to its manual competitors. It was slow, prone to breaking, and only moved at a fixed speed. The only advantage, of course is that it only required one operator to move severas linesets at once.